The knight and the witch
by 0310
Summary: An Imperial Guard Rider and an Eldar Warlock stuck on a strange planet, chased after by a Chaos psyker, as well as numerous other foes determined to destroy them both, how will they escaped ? Rate T for violence. Please RnR
1. Chapter 1

_**This is my first fanfic, so maybe there are some grammar errors, you guys can help me fix it. I will try to update as soon as possible. Please review :)  
**_

_-Solaris, Segmentum Tempestus, 999.M41-_

The storm was coming.

Sergeant Mikal Davidova could feel it. It wasn't fear, fear was only for recruits, and he had been a Storm Rider for 15 years. It was excitement; he felt it every times he fighted to defend the Imperium from its many enemies. He looked around him. His squadmates were fully prepared, yet he could see they worrying. That was understandable, however. Most of them had never been part of a Forlorn hope before. Mikal unslung his hunting lance, his right hand wrapped around the trigger of the hell carbine attached to the neck of his steed. The Storm Riders were the proudest of Vierin 75th regiment. He would do anything to preserve that reputation.

Mikal raised his lance. The others riders uniformly did the same.

"Riders !"he shout,"Today we spearhead the assault toward enemy's force. As you can see they have set up formidable defense in front of us. Losses of lives are inevitable"Mikal caught a terrifying look from a rookie. His name was Andrew, if he remembered correctly. The kid was around 17, 18. Too young for this. So pity."However"he continued,"The Emperor will watch over us. He will reward us for our courage. This is our hope, this is our charge. Onward to glory ! For the Emperor !"

He looked at the traitor's defense line. To reach it they must cross the no man's land of 500 metres, full of mines, barbed wires,and must do it while being shot at from gun emplacements. He then looked at his companions. Most of them would probably never seen the light again. This was gonna be bloody.

_-Solaris, Segmentum Tempestus, 999.M41, 1 month later-_

They had been protecting the supply route for 2 weeks. The job was boring, you escorted the convoy to the designated location, and then ran back to meet another. While his comrades constantly complained about it, Private Glen Marko was totally fine. The escorting mission, while tedious, allowed you to stay behind the frontline, and that was better than being shot at. His unit, the 8th Storm Rider company, had been devastated in an attempt to break through traitor's line. Of 100 riders that made up the 8th, only 23 remained after the attack. Normally units with under half strength would be disbanded, but due to tradition, Storm Rider units having too little members would be relegated to rear echelon duty until they could be rebuilt. That was because the Storm Riders were a highly praised force : they were not only elites, but also unique to the forge world of Vierin. They were nearly similar to Storm Troopers in role and equipment, but instead of storming enemy's position on foot, they did it on horseback. Glen didn't know why he had been selected for joining the riders, he only wanted to live peacefully. He lacked nearly all the qualities needed. He was good at riding, but that didn't count - any riders must be good at it to attract the attention of recruiters. However, Glen must admit that he was very lucky. Because his transport were delayed, he could only joined with the 8th the day after it had been nearly wiped out. He was able to save his life, and survived for more than 1 month in this war due to some anomaly in the Warp. There was no doubt that he would not last a second in battle. Suddenly some disturbed noise attracted his attention. He looked to his right to see two of his squadmates were in deep argument.

"You are wrong, dude. Grox cannot be trained, those you saw had been lobotomised !"A guardsman with a childlike face said. The other guardsman shook his head:"I have seen a man went to the forest, captured a wild grox, and then tamed it in just 1 hours. But hey, why don't we let the expert decide who is right ? Glen, I heard your father has a grox farm. Can you "educate" this kid about those delicious reptiles ?".

Glen smiled. How the hell did those guys know his father has a grox farm ? He opened his mouth, prepared to say-

And then the truck in front of him exploded.

Rogue psyker Kaeron watched the convoy passing with increasing interest.

The riders galloping at the flank of the supply trucks looked familiar. Those uniforms...they were the same as those of the cavalry storming his war cell's position last month. He lost his left arm in the attack, and while it had been replaced by bionic, it was worse than his former arm. Although most of the corpse-worshipper had been killed in the raid, that was not enough. He wanted to make every last one of them suffer, feel the pain he had felt when his arm was cut off. Kaeron's revenge would be sweet.

He looked at his cultists and mutants that accompanied him. There were hundred of them. Despite their rag-tag appearance, their number alone was enough to overwhelm their foes. They also had armoured support in the form of diminutive vehicles, built for them by a member of the Dark Mechanicus. What did he call them ? Ahhhh...Tankettes. An odd name, but it fitted them nonetheless. Their commanders stood out of the top hatchs, a look of grim determination on their faces.

Kaeron concentrated his power on the eight-pointed star symbol on his bare chest. It began to glow purple and lightning started crackling from his hand. All the cultists around looked at him expectedly.

"Brothers"Kaeron whispered"It's time. Let them bear our wrath."

Warlock Illiara had been hunting a chaos psyker for months on this planet, Solaris, as the Mon'Keigh called it. Solaris was close to her Craftworld, Caur-Anaris. If Chaos force took over the planet, they could launch their attacks on the Craftworld, threaten the life of hundred of thousand Eldars. But unlike the bigger and more aggressive Alaitoc or Saim-Hann, Caur-Anaris was a small Craftworld; they did not have the manpower to attack any planet; they instead choose to send small strike forces to kill enemy's leaders. Without them, their armies would fall apart and no longer a threat. They did the same on Solaris, but had yet successful: The cultist leaders were too good at hiding. Illiara's target was Kaeron, leader of the Ravager war cell, and a powerful psyker. At least 7 members of her strike team had been killed by him, and she still could not locate the position of his warcell. Her frustration had grown bigger each passing hour; If only...

"Warlock !" Illiara turned back, seeing a guardian, an exciting look on his face "We have managed to located Kaeron, he is at sector 56-23, attacking an Imperial convoy ! We must hurry..."

"Assemble whatever forces we have now, we move immediately" Illiara cut him off with the wave of a hand.

She closed her eyes. Now there was one permanent feature in her vision of the future...the death of her enemy.


	2. Chapter 2

**And there is chapter 2. Take shorter than I expected. Enjoy :)**

_...there is no more stirring sight in war than the charge of massed cavalry..._

**-Dravin Gratz, 14th Tharinga-**

The explosion nearly threw Glen off his feet. If it hadn't been for his horse, he would have been on the ground. Another explosion sent the guardsmen protecting the convoy into panic.

_Oh God-Emperor no ! We are under attack. _Glen thought as he scrambled for cover. But they were in the middle of the road, with the only covers being the burning trucks and damaged Chimeras APC. He turned around, made himself as plain as possible, and tried to escape from the mess. If he was fast, he might get out of here in one piece...

"Get back here you coward ! Where do you think you are going ?". Glen's Ridemaster was before him, an angry look on his face "Lucky for you that I ain't no commissar, or else you would be shot. Now go with me, we have a heretic horde to kill !"

Glen's blood froze "Kill ? We are outnumbered. Is it better to just retreat ?". Although he said that, he knew that the true reason was different. He had never killed anyone before. Some veterans back in Vierin had told Glen about their stories, about the feeling when you killed someone. They kept staring at you, you could see their despair, fear, anger...within those lifeless eyes, then you realized what you had done, what you had just taken away...that's simply unbearable.

The Ridemaster angrily shouted at his face, his fury could put even World Eater marines to shame:" Retreat ? RETREAT ? We are the Storm Riders, the Emperor's messenger, and you tell me to retreat ? NO ! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS ! Now go and fight! Don't let me hear you say that word again, or I will kill you before those traitors do !".

Glen then did what he had been told:to go. He ran toward a Chimera, where a squad of Guardsmen had been taking cover. With a simple gesture, the horse kneeled behind the APC. He was mostly obscured, therefore enjoyed (relative) safety at the back of the tank. Now came the hard part: to fight. Glen got the full view of the battle for the first time. Cultists and mutants ran down the hill, toward the convoy, guns blazing. He had heard about the cruelty of Ruinous Powers's followers, but he still could not killed them. Glen then chose the simplest solution: firing on their feet. Incapacitating was enough. He scored several hit, but soon realized that was ineffective: the wounded continued to crawl forward, firing their autoguns until they exhausted their ammunition. Fortunately they only attacked one flank of the convoy, so the defenders could still formed a firing line to drive the cultists away...

"Incoming !"

A krak missile blew the Chimera's turret up. All the guardsmen, including Glen, looked in horror as they realized that the missile came from their direction...

And soon the cultists would be all over them. They must do something, fast; Ridemaster Azariel thought. The first truck was destroyed by a lightning bolt. A psyker was leading them. Kill him, and the rest would automatically disintegrated. He collected his riders, prepared for a final charged. Death or Glory.

Glen's heart nearly jumped out of his chest when a hand set on his shoulder. He turned back and saw Ridemaster Azariel and the rest of his comrades, their faces were as hard as stone. He suddenly understood; they only looked like that when they were preparing a charge. The Ridemaster then shot him a glance that could both melt ice and freeze oxygen at the same time . The message was pretty clear: Join me, or die.

Glen tried not to scream. He didn't want to die. Despite the desperation he felt, his survival instinct still prevented him from being killed. He turned left and right, dodging rocks on the ground and bullets in the air, and on occasions even knocking cultists out of the way. His comrades were blasting the enemies with their hell carbines; the unarmoured cultists didn't stand a chance. Those foes managed to survive the rider's wrath were too few to cause any threat, as long as he kept moving. But his little hope of making out alive was shaken furiously when a massive boulder flew toward him at terrifying speed. Glen was able to stop his steed right before the rock hit the ground. He turned his head, and saw a massive Chaos Spawn rushing at him, swinging its pickaxe-like weapon, cutting him off from his fellow riders. He switched direction, tried to return to the convoy, but the spawn was fast despite its size, and he would probably not make it to allies's line. There was no way to escape.

The distance between him and the beast was reduced considerably. Glen made a quick decision. He gradually slowed down, allowed the spawn to keep up. It was a risky tactic, but it was also the only way to kill the beast. The scales on its back and arm were too thick, the only vulnerable part was it stomach, but the spawn covered it with one of its arm. He must force it to expose its abdomen. Although he was afraid, he knew that if he didn't do anything, the creature would rip him apart in seconds. By now it had closed the distance, and prepared to deliver the strike. Glen suddenly pulled the bridle, the horse leaped to the air, barely able to dodge the spawn's weapon, and landed behind it. The beast turned back, prepared to attack again, and received a smashed at the side of its head from Glen's hunting lance. The foul creature was surprised and fell backward, its arms outstretched, trying to keep balance. That moment of neglect was all he needed. He poured as much shot as he could from his hell carbine to the spawn's belly. The monster went down, its abdomen erupted in a spray of blood and viscera.

The thing moved no more.

He let out a sigh of relief. That was close. Then he realized that he was in the middle of the enemy. The surviving cultists, recovered from the shock effect of the cavalry charge, now were rushing toward him. He was trapped.

And the closest cultist was ripped apart.

Glen looked at where the shot came from. Group of soldiers, dressed in elegant curved armors and wore strange helmets, were advancing forward in ranks, their discipline fire cut down untold number of cultists, yet no shot hit, or even scratched him. Glen then realized who they were. He had seen them in a book depicting alien races in the galaxy.

They were the Eldar.

Warlock Illiara was finally caught up with the Chaos psyker. She had assured herself of victory, no human could match the Eldar in psychic power, but now she was not certain. The psyker was able to decimate entire Imperial rider squadron in just one shot of lightning bolt from his hand. She activated her shroud, drew her Witchblade, and closed the distance between them. Better let the sword take care of him.

These Eldar were pretty friendly for their race. Most of the documents Glen had read always depicted the Eldar as treacherous, back-stabbing xenos, yet those before him didn't show any sign of hostile. But something from afar was attracting their attention. He looked at the direction. A female Eldar was clashing with a human psyker, and at the psyker feet...were the corpses of his comrades.

Glen flew into a rage. The bastard...he had killed them. While he had only joined the 8th for a short time, he had developed a friendship with the were so kind...Glen drew his lance, ready to charge. The killer must pay !

The psyker was a formidable opponent, both in psychic and sword dueling. Her psychic shroud was neutralized the moment she came near him,and even her Executioner was defeated. The psyker were dancing around, striking and taunting her:

"What's wrong with you Warlork ? Is my strength too much for you to bear ?". Illiara didn't answer. She was too tired, her hands were already numb after exchanging numerous slashes, parry and block with the psyker. with the psyker.

"Well, I still want to play with you, but I'm running out of time". After finishing the sentence, Kaeron charged at the Warlock, raised his chainsword with both hand, prepared to deliver the killing blow. But he had underestimated her. Even in her current state, she was still capable of dodging the slash. She came in low, lunged forward as she thrushed her sword at the psyker's stomach. Kaeron smiled. With a wave of his hand, two corpses suddenly sprang up, ramming at Illiara and threw her of her feet. He drew his laspistol and pointed at the Warlock's head, a satisfying smile on his face.

But satisfied soon turn into surprised.

A Mon'keigh rider, with a fearful face, stabbed his hunting lance at the eight pointed star on the psyker chest. The lance exploded, releasing violet lightning bolts everywhere. And slowly, a warp rift was formed where the star had been moments before. The psyker was the first to be suck into the rift. And the Imperial rider-her saviour, he too was dragged screaming into the warp. Other cultists-dead or alive, from all over the battlefield, were pulled to the rift, the blasphemous symbols on their bodier glowing. While the Eldar and Imperials were not affect, but liked the rider, Illiara was too close to the black hole. She was slowly drew to the warp. But the rift was shrinking, she only had to try a little more...

Two vehicle husks were flying toward her. Illiara dodged one, but the other slammed at her Witchblade plunging on the ground. The sword was pulled out, and much to her horror, she was pulled into the rift. The last thing she saw was the sickening purple of the Warp...


	3. Chapter 3

**And here is chapter 3 ! I want to send my thanks to ImperialGuard202, Imperial Zealot and Imperial Warlord for their comments. You guys have encouraged me very much. And by the way, enjoy chapter 3 :)**

_-Vierin, Segmentum Solar, 15 years ago-_

_Glen Marko cowered against the wall. He was separated from his parents when they were making their way toward the spaceport. His parents had promised that they would return for him, but he highly doubted that they could. The Chaos horde were everywhere, and Glen, despite being a kid, knew the outcomes of this. First, if the situation on the ground was beyond saving, but the Imperium still had starships in orbit, they would perform Exterminatus. And the second possibility...was the world would be turned in to a daemon world, and he soon would joined the slaves. It was even worse than the first, and he rather die than face that._

_A large noise cut off his thought. It came from the living room. But when he got there, he wished that he hadn't. In the middle of the room, among a pile of brokem glass were two cultists. They wore the gas masks workers usually wore, their eyes were glowing red, and the most terrifying of all that was blood dripping of their weapons..._

_"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD !". They roared, and then charged at him. Glen was paralyzed with fear: they would kill him, and it would certainly happen soon...But one of them suddenly stopped, blood pouring from his mouth: a blade had pierced his chest. The body fell to the ground, the other cultist turned back, a confused look on his face; he quickly suffered the same fate as the sword sliced him in two. Standing over the corpses was a warrior dressed in a long robe covered with strange runes. Because of the slightly curve of the breast, Glen guessed the warrior was a woman. She advanced toward him, and slowly unmasked herself in the process. He was stunned by her angelic features; she wasn't a human. No human he had met had such a beautiful face, and definitely not pointed ears. She put her hand on his cheek, and he realized that it was burning hot. He probably looked so funny because she was chuckling to herself. He felt peaceful; the first time in three months.. Glen wished this moment would last forever..._

_"Wrooooom"_

_The sound of a Valkyrie flying overhead made him warrior sighed. It seemed that she had to go. So sad. He wished she could be here with him. Glen let out a deep breath, and closed his eyes. That left him defenceless for what happened next._

_The feeling of her lips on his cheek made him jerk. But it wasn't long before she drew back, moving just inch away. The warrior said in the softest, meekest of voice, a sentence that he would forever remember._

_" We will meet again."  
_

* * *

Glen suddenly woke up. It took his eyes a few seconds to familiarised themselves with the bright sunlight. That dream...it was exactly liked what happened in the past. He didn't remember the face of the female warrior that saved him, but it didn't matter . The most important thing now was his location. It seemed that he didn't on that terrible planet anymore. Solaris was covered in massive manufactorum, mile-spanning industrial wasteland, but in here the only thing he could see was lusty green plain. Oh and blue sky, too. His horse was nearby, grazing. It was paradise. He could have lay down and sleep if it hadn't been for the thing he had learned in the Guard: the most beautiful could turned into the most dangerous. Before he got here, he had been sucked into the Warp...so _this _place might be Slaneesh's realm. That thought sent a chill down his spine. He sprang up, hell carbine and saber at the ready. If there was any Slaneeshi daemon around, he would eagerly put a las bolt through its skull. But he soon calmed down after seeing the things around him. Slaneesh's realm didn't have lascannon or vehicle husks. She/he/it didn't allow anything to spoil her/his/its palace's perfection. Glen examined the weapons: the husks were from the mini tanks those traitors used, while the lascannon was from the Guard and still in serviceable condition. They must have been dragged into the rift along with him. Another thing got his attention: a clever sword that plunged deep within a rock. Glen tried to pull it out, but to no avail...

"Give it up. There's no point trying"

Glen turned back to see an Eldar approaching him. With a wave of her hand, the sword flew backward, returned to its sheath. While others would no doubt be enchanted by the way she move, he was totally normal, given that wasn't the first time he encountered them. His horse hissed, uncomfortable with her presence.

"It seem that your horse doesn't like me" She said with a smile.

"Don't worry about that, it won't hurt you. But...who are you ?" NowGlen was able to fully observe the Eldar in front of him. Based on her clothes, she was a fairly high ranking officer in Eldar army. A Warlock, to be exact.

"I'm Illiara, Warlock of Craftworld Caur-Anaris. And I want to thank you. If it hadn't been for your heroic action, I would not have stood here".

Oh that Eldar. Now he remembered "Um you are welcome. But do you know where we are ? We aren't in the Warp, right ?"

Illiara laughed:" No, if we were in the Warp, we would not survive for one minute. And we are not on the well known part of the galaxy either. The Warp is weak here...we are probably in the Veiled region or Halo zone. Human navigators cannot navigate throughthose areas because of difficulties in sensing the Warp. But why don't we ask the local ? They certainly know more about this world than we do."

"Yeahhhhh right. But where can we find them ? I've been on this planet for several hours and no one has shown up."

"You _really _need to learn how to observe." Glen rolled his eyes." I saw smoke rising from the east 3 hours ago, if we get here, we can find not only information about this world but also shelter. I have learned that human hate sleeping outside". She chuckled, and continued "And if we use your horse, we can get there before sunset."

"There is only one horse."

"So I will sit behind you. I know that you are very proud to have a beautiful girl like me behind you back when you are riding." Glen face turned into deep red. How did she know ? "This is the smallest thing I can do to repay you. Oh and just remember _do not _do anything stupid or you will find out that you only got one hand." She said and smiled again.

This will be a _long_ trip...

* * *

After 1 hour they finally made it to the town. It was small, and damaged, and looked like some towns in a feudal world Glen had visited earlier. It seemed that it had been under attack. He cautiously moved the horse toward the town, prepared to face any hostile action. Behind him Illiara carefully surveyed the surrounding, she too was nervous. Quiet, _too quiet..._

A hail of arrows suddenly flew toward him. Illiara quickly leaped out of horseback to dodge it. Glen wasn't as fast as her, but his armour was better. All of the arrows simply bounced off it. His horse was ok, too, its skin was too thick for the arrows to penetrated. Following the arrow hail were around 20 soldiers armed with primitive spears. They surrounded them in a circle and slowly closed the distance.

One man stepped out. He was probably the leaderbecause he was the only one to wear armor. He stand in front of the circle, a cruel look on his face "How does it feel, huh ? How does it feel when you are trapped, and have no way out ? Now you will pay for what you have done. Die demons !"

"What do we do now ?" Glen whispered "You and I will have no trouble dispatching this guys, but I don't want to hurt them."

"Leave them to me." Illiara said. She raised one hand, lightning started crackling in the air around them; a massive roar, and a montrous version of the Warlock appeared from thin air. The soldiers screamed in terror and tried to escaped, but they was simply too slow, the leader was captured by the Executioner. He struggled in its unbreakable grip, to no avail.

Illiara signaled the Executioner to drop the man. She moved forward, stopped before the man's face " Tell me, why did you call me demon ? if you don't, I cannot let you live, because that sentence is pretty impolite to describe a lady like me."

"Yes,yes ! I will tell. But you must promises not to harm these people !"

"You have my word."

"Ok..um, where should I start ? Oh right. 3 years ago, a group of men descended from the sky in large flying ship with dragon-like wings. They looked like you, except that they wore black, spiky outfits and flags on their back with a pierced heart on them. They raided out settlement, captured men, women, children and forced them to get in their ships. We never heard of those being captured again. We tried to ambush them, but always failed."

Illiara fell silent. That was the last thing she expected to hear. The Executioner slowly dissolved.

Glen interrupted:" Illiara, What's wrong ? Who are those raiders ?"

"Isn't...isn't that clear ?" She stuttered. He had never seen an Eldar being so frightened before."But who are they ?"

" The Dark Eldar" she whispered "Kabal of the Black Heart".


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 6 is here! This have been the longest chapter so far and it take a long time to complete. Thank you, CigarChomper and Sigma Castell, for your advises. And Cigar, the reason for my characters's friendliness will be explained in this chapter. Enjoy !**

Glen was dumbstruck by the news. Although he was slightly afraid of Craftworld Eldar, his fear of the Dark Eldar was different. Those Chaos cultists he had faced earlier were nothing compared to the them: they were ruthless, brutal and without mercy. He remembered the reaction of his comrades when they saw the pict-captures of the Evolus Massacre; most of them couldn't stand looking at the bloody orgy the Dark Eldar displayed, one even vomited right on the floor. It was, however, surprising that these primitive people had survived several Dark Eldar raids without being totally killed, raped or captured. He would consider confronting those xeno pirates and protecting this town if he were an Astarte, but he weren't, and that was _their _problem, not his. The best thing he could do now was told the folks to run away while they still could.

Illiaria and the leader were still silent, and anxiety was building up in the air. Glen decided to break the ice: "I have never faced any Dark Eldar before," He paused to gain their attention "But I have heard some rumours about their combat skill. I personally _think _that some of which were exaggerated, but I will not risk my life finding out what is true."

"So what do you intent to do ?"

"Escaped. Although you and I can fight back, we will certainly be overwhelmed. And these farmers...they will be no better than practice target . So run away, find a major population center, and settle in. The Dark Eldar raiding parties are pretty small, especially for feral and feudal worlds like this one, so if you stay with a lot of people, you will less likely to be caught."

"No". Glen turned to face the troop leader "What ? Sorry, but mister...ah...um..."

"Thule. Call me Thule."

"Okay. Thule, do you really think you can stand a chance against those xenos, with you bows and spears ? They have guns, lots of guns that shoot poisonous glass. Maybe you don't know what guns are, so I will try to explain it as simple as possible. They are tube-like objects that can cut through a fully armoured man like a hot knife through butter from afar. And their effect on people with no armour like you...is terrifying to say the least. And when they have killed or wounded anyone resisting them, they will bring you to their lair, and soon you will turn into one of their slaves. After that...well you all know what will happen."

"Ha" Thule laughed "Slavery ? We used to be slaves, all people in this town. If we go to cities to hide, that means we are willingly to be slaves again. We escaped from the king's workforce and founded this town. If those...xenos want to come, let them come. This land is ours. Freedom is ours. We won't let them slip from our hand without a fight."

"Okaaaayyy." Glen sighted. The guy had chosen his own way. While he admitted that Thule was a brave man, Imperial cemeteries were full of brave men. Although they were honour, Glen'd rather live a flat but peaceful life than die a glorious death." Well...if you insist...there is nothing more I can do." He shrugged "Shall we go, Illiara ?"

"No." The Warlock's reaction astonished him. The Eldar were always reluctant to engaged in combat; they preferred to let other races do the dirty jobs of fighting "We cannot allow the Dark Eldar to terrorise this world anymore. Even if this people move out, they will not be safe. They can't hide, not with their number, and then my fallen brethren will bring them to the Dark City, where death is a luxury that most slave can't afford. Although they are not my people, I will stay and protect them. Their lives are precious. Every untainted and uncorrupted life in the universe is precious. That is the principle of Craftworld Caur-Anaris. I will fight back to ensure these people's safety, even if it results in my own demise.".

The Imperial, Glen Marko, were staring at her. The feeling displayed on his face was a mix of surprise and grief.

"You think I am stupid ?"

"No. I just think...you are really a good person. While Imperial doctrine taught us that your race is treacherous, you appear to be the exact opposite. . And...you remind me of someone I used to know. Another Eldar. It was a long time ago...since I was still a kid...she..."

He abruptly stopped. A sad memory, it seemed. Illiara nearly felt pity for him. But she had to thank that Eldar. What she had done maybe the reason why Glen saved her. Good job.

"Will you stay ?" Thule suddenly interrupted them "In case you want to remain here with us, I have some places for you two. They are not particularly luxurious, but pretty comfortable."

"Oh...um, thank you." Illiara answered, because Glen was still lost in his thought "For refugees like us,having a place to live is good enough. We don't require anything else."

"Good. But I still have a question" Thule stopped as if he had taken a breath "You come from the sky, you wield great power, but you aren't those demons. Then...what are you ? And this guy ?"

"What are we ?" Illiara smiled, the mischievous look again returned to her face "Our real name is very hard for human to say, so they have a word to describe people of our kin . They call us...angels."

* * *

The news of the arrival of angels quickly spread. Nearly all the people of the town hustled against each other in the small streets to catch a glimpse of their deliverers. That scene made Glen uncomfortable; he wasn't used to being looked at and praised by others. He whispered into the Warlock's ears: "Do you think we…no, _you _have done too much ?"

"No, of course ! This is fun !"

"I think we are cheating these people; we don't have anything that can be used to resist an invasion…"

"No,we have. Remember the place where we arrive ? There is plenty of weapon scattered around. They were used by the cultists and were sucked to this world along with us. But…you should stop thinking about that, there is no immediate danger around; you can start to worry when we are properly settled. Oh, and one more think…"

"What ?"

"Please take a bath. You are stink !"

Glen rolled his eyes. Despite how much Illiara differed from other Eldar, she still shared their arrogance. What a species.

* * *

The next morning Glen, along with Thule and several townsmen, set out to the plain he had arrived to scavenge for any salvageable armament; the mini tanks and lascannon were the first to be examined. The lascannon could still be used, and the tanks could be disassembled to make something useful. Despite his disgust when the rotting bodies of the crews were pulled out, he still felt lucky; those vehicles weren't possessed by daemons. Let the townsmen do the remaining works, he wandered to find if there was anything around...

"Grrrhh..."

A small groan drew his attention. It came from behind the tree line; although he didn't know who do that, Glen was sure that no human could be capable of making such a noise. He slowly advanced toward, hell carbine at the ready. He hid behind a tree, protruded his head out to see what was happening, and was shocked by the horrific sight before him.

Three red, vicious-looking hounds were feasting on the bodies of the deceased Chaos cultists. They looked like Khorne Flesh hounds, but smaller and had several thorns jutted out from their backs. Glen tried to withdraw, but stepped on a branch on the ground. The hounds looked up, and saw their new prey standing before them. They roared and charge at him with incredible speed. He tried not to panicked, and pulled the trigger. As fast as they were, they still could not outrun las bolts. Glen remembered his encounter with the Chaos Spawn; the hounds were faster and more numerous, but they didn't have armour. He sent a hail of shot toward the creatures, two were hit and instantly killed, but the third was able to dodge all the shot and now was leaping at him. Glen threw his carbine to the ground, and drew his chainsword for the first time. The serrated edge of his sword collided with the beast body; the hound didn't stand a chance. Another noise came from his back; Glen turned, prepared to deliver the strike, and then realized that he was pointing his weapon at Thule.

"Oh, easy guy !" Thule said, his eyes still on the tip of the chainsword " We thought we heard something. What happen ?."

Glen dropped his sword and gasped "Just look at this mess and you get the view. Do you know what they are ?"

"Oh merciful Great Mother...these...these're the king's Death Beasts !" Thule's face was pale in horror "He sends them to pursue escaping slaves. They are the worst thing around here, really. How did you kill them ? No, no, it doesn't matter. These beasts hunt in pack. We must go, now, before the rest can find us !".

"Great. As if we didn't have enough trouble. But you are right." Glen pointed at the mutilated bodies of the cultists "Just grapped their equipments and get the hell out of here !"

After moving far from his arrival site did Glen regain his calm and began to count his loot. It was pretty good: one and a haft dozen lasguns, several laspistols, one lascannon with rechargeable power packs, two heavy stubbers with several ammunition caches and two vox caster. At least it worth being chased after by some bloodthirsty dogs. Illiara would laugh at his face if she knew how much he had been terrified when they rushed at him. Glen decided not to tell her about the incident, but realized that there was no point hiding. She could read mind, after all.

When he reached the town, he saw something weird. The Warlock were standing before the entrance, a worrying look on her face. This was unusual.

"Are you okay ?" she asked when Glen approached her.

"Yes, why do you ask ?"

"Don't lie to me. Just look at your face. I don't need to be a Farseer to know that you are hiding something. Want to share it with me ? If you don't, I have to take it from your head, and it won't be comfortable." She said with a smile which reminded Glen of the Venus Mantrap from Catachan: beautiful, but dangerous.

That sent a chill down his spine "Yes, I will tell. But please don't laugh at me okay ?".

"I promise."

The Imperial then told her about his fight with the Death Beasts. Illiara chuckled:"My vision is still accurate."

"What ?"

"After you had gone my runestones began to glow. They told me about what happened to you."

"Oh great. I always want to have a pocket oracle, but you should tell me sooner..."

"I could call you by telepathy, but I didn't. I knew that you could not be harm by those creatures; you are strong. You..."

Glen could not hear the next words. His cheek were burning. All people he knew, except for his parents, always called him weak, but this...alien...she just... Maybe she was mocking him. He looked at his feet, and walked away as fast as he could. Although he could not see her face, he knew she was smiling.

* * *

Warlock Illiara was trying to ignore the growl from her stomach. She hadn't eaten since she got here. Her room was in the second floor of a tavern, so all she needed to do was to go down the stair. Although the people of this world were friendly, she was still not comfortable with their presence. She tried to focus on something else, but her stomach continued to scream...

Knock knock knock.

Now what ? Illiara forcefully opened the door. She didn't want to meet anybody. But she was surprised to see Glen Marko, his hand holding a wooden platter with some food on it.

"Hi. You must be hungry ? You haven't eaten since..."

"Yes I know. But why do you bring the food to me ?"

"Because...um...that was hard to say..."

"Just...give me my meal."

"Oh...here it is. Although it cannot match Eldar's food, it's still pretty good. I hope you like it."

"Thank you."

She took the platter and turned away, but Glen still stood in the threshold, scratching his head.

"Come in or out ?"

"Oh sorry, out. Bon appetit !"

Illiara closed the door and looked at her meal. Nothing special. But then her attention shifted to the big, red apple in the corner of the platter. Illiara loved fruits, but as an Eldar, she must limit herself, and there wasn't many fruit on her Craftworld. The last time she tasted one was...at least several years ago. But how Glen knew about her liking ? Maybe he had seen her looking at the apple trees in the town centre. Pretty sensitive for a soldier.

You really knew how to impress a lady, boy.

* * *

Dracon Laatheeym looked at the slave cages in a self-satified way. The result of recent raids was pleasing: 3000 humans, all of them were in good physical condition. Soon there would be thousands of Grotesques joining his secret army. The Haemonculi were more than happy to cooperate with him, as long as he kept supplying them with fresh "specimens". They probably would not sell him down the river. But somehow the news about his betrayal had reached the ears of Asdrubael Vect himself, forcing him to speed up his plan. There was no evidence, just rumours; but in Commorragh, rumours could kill you. Dark Eldar was a treacherous race; the mightiest was neither the richest nor the strongest, but the most cunning. Vect knew too well about this; despite being borned as a lowly slave, he had carved a bloody way toward power, founded the Kabal of the Black Heart and became the ruler of Commorragh, all through deception. During his thousand-year reign, Vect had faced countless attempts on his life, carried out by his minions; none of them survived. To overthrow him was tantamount to suicide.

But no. He would not fail. Laatheeym had intended to become the most powerful figure in Commorragh since he joined the Kabal, since the death of his mother...

"My lord" the shipmaster's voice pulled him out of his thought "We have reached the last location in our excursion. What do you want me to do ?"

"Alert the troops and ready my transport" Laatheeym said, his face turned into a death mask "Prepare to make planetfall."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long update, I was busy with my freaking graduation test; but I have passed, so I hope that I can update more frequently. This is my longest chapter so far; Enjoy Warning: some part is pretty cheesy because I am not totally sane these days. Sorry :p**

**CigarChomper: thank you, that helped me alot. And I'm Guard's fan, too :)  
**

Glen had been staying at this town for nearly a month, spending most of his time training the folks in military skills. The townsmen, now familiarized themselve with him, began to call him "Angel of Light" because of the "staffs that shoot blood-red beam and vaporize anything in their wake" he gave them, which was kind of irony, since the objects with that scary name were actually lasguns, and everyone in the Guard called it "flashlight". And although his new name made him uncomfortable, Illiara liked it nonetheless. Weird.

"Um...mister angel...I have a question..."

Glen turned around, and saw the newest recruit, Mist, holding the lasgun with the business end pointed at herself.

"Yes ?"

"How can we fight with this stick ? No, no, it doesn't mean I doubt you, but these "guns" don't even have edges ! Others have told me about the light they create, but I have been trying the whole day and still...nothing happen."

Glen smiled "I see it. Your gun is totally normal. I have set it to safe mode so you cannot hurt yourself when practicing. If you want to operate it, you must learn something. First, never pointed the end with hole at yourself like this. Second,..."

It took him an hour to explain how to use lasgun to Amelia "Now you understand ?"

"Ye...yes."

"Okay. Now set the gun to standard power mode, and aim at that melon. Ready ? FIRE !"

POOF ! And the melon exploded.

"Oh crap..." Mist stuttered.

"That is the reason why I set all the guns on safe mode. If I hadn't done that, there would certainly be some amateurs blowing their heads off. Now hand it to me..."

"Angel ! Angel !"

"Ah Thule. What's up ?"

Thule stopped, trying to catch his breath " The...Angel of Essence calls you. We must hurry."

Glen lost several seconds trying to cope with the situation "Illiara ? Why does she call me ? If she wants to do something she has entire group of admirers to..."

"She told me that it must be you ! This is serious !"

"Okay, okay. Relax, I will be there in no time."

* * *

Her runestones were still glowing when Glen barged into the room, an irritating look on his face "Would you _please _explain to me why you call me here ? Have I told you not to disrupt our training ? I don't want those watching my back to die when they meet the Dark Eldar just because they don't know how to handle a gun."

"Calm down, Mon'keigh.I don't do anything without reason. And...the fruit of your hard work will be test in the flame of war...soon..."

That sent a chill down Glen spine. Illiara looked like the dark Oracle from Vierin legend "What do you mean ?"

"My dark kin...They are coming."

* * *

_Several hours later, in the training ground_

"So basically, you pretended to be a noob so that you can gain the Angel's attention," a tall hunter with the name of Wilhelm said, still holding the long-las sniper rifle "and it worked."

"Well, you could say so." Mist said, sending a hail of shot toward the wooden pole line, blew them apart.

"Hazz" Wilhelm sighted "I wished I could be able to make the Angel of Essence notice me, even if it is just a moment."

"Oh, don't be so desperate. All you need is..."

"MIST, WILHELM. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ?"

Wilhelm stuttered "Oh...oh Thule, we...are practicing..."

"You are supposed to be in the meeting house to be briefed about the upcoming battle with the demons !"

"You can personally do it to us, brother." Mist said, smiling "So why must we go ?"

"You never change." Thule shook his head "Someday your arrogance will cost you your life, Mist. Now listen carefully, this is very important to our war effort; Wilhelm, you will be on the roof of Dalla's house, observe the battlefield and relay enemy's action via...um...the vox; Mist, you stay with me, we are the reserve force under the command of Angel of Light...

"Wow finally." Mist cheered, but then realizing that the two guys were looking at her. She looked down, blushing furiously.

"Do not do anything stupid, or I will kill you before the bad guys do. Understand ?"

"Yes sir !"

"Good. Dismiss."

* * *

This was only the second time Illiara walked down the street of the town so everything was still unfamiliar with her. She was reluctant to do that, but she must sure the defense of the town was properly set up. Glen had done a good job training the people of this town, but he was a soldier, not a strategist, so the rest was up to her. She couldn't count on him during battle either, he was still not ready to kill. That was why she put him in command of reserve force. Her troops manning the defense line woule be responsible for most of the killing, and Glen would do the mopping up operation. If he had been a professional warrior, her job would have been much easier...

"Angel..."

The sudden appearance of one townsman pulled her out of her thought "Oh hello...what's your name ?"

"Wilhelm. The sniper, remember ?"

" are you doing outside this late ? You should have some sleep. We must be in our best condition when the enemy struck."

"Yes I know. But I got something to say. To you. But first, please take this."

He then handed her a bunch of surprisingly beautiful green flowers. She took it, and her cheeks slightly turned red.

"Awww...That is...very nice of you...but you don't have to..."

"Yes I have to." Wilhelm took in a deep breath, to delay the sentences on his lips or to get some courage ? She would never know.

"I want to be with you !"

"Wut ?" Illiara let out a small, unintelligible sound. Did her ears deceive her ?

"I'm just a normal man. I have no right to ask an angel that. But I have to say. If in the upcoming battle I die and haven't said that, I couldn't die with my eyes shut. But now you have known it, I hold no regret."

He ran into the nearest alley, leaving Illiara speechless, alone in the dark.

* * *

The battle came sooner than she thought. It began as any normal day, but when the sun rose, three black Raiders, accompanied by a dozen Hellions, appeared at the horizon. People of the town, although terrified, knew what they must do. Women, children and the old went down the underground shelters, prepared for them in case of attack; men, weapons at hand, rushed to their posts. After several minutes, the town returned to the eerie silence of early morning.

"Smoothly, huh ? This is what I have tried to teach them. Guess it was worth the effort."

"Please quiet, Glen ! I don't want them to detect my position !" The Warlock grumbled over the tele-vox "Wilhelm, report !"

"The demons are approaching very fast. Their flying troops will be over us in several more seconds."

"Good. Do not do anything until they are in range. Remember to pick up those wearing distinct armours or carry special weapons. May Khaela Mensha Khaine guide your blades. Over and out."

The Dark Eldar got closer and closer.

"I can see them from here." Illiara heard Glen mumble over the vox.

The Raiders stopped outside the town. The Hellions flew through the entrance, dived low, searching for prey. All the townsmen standing beside Illiara pointed their lasguns at the invaders.

"Hold your fire. Wait for them to get close."

The Hellions quickly closed the distance to the defense line. Just one more moment and they would be all over them. Lucky that the camoflage she set up in the trench worked.

"People, prepare to fired on my mark."

The enemies were right in front of them. She could now make out every single detail on their clothes and sky boards.

"Marked."

The townsmen opened fire at once. Hail of las bolts and stubber rounds filled the air. The Hellions were totally caught by surprise; they were agile and fast, but at this close those advantages were meaningless. Several were shot down in the first volley, including the Helliarch, and the surviving Hellions were quickly sent into disarray. However, the transports had seen this and swivelled their guns, prepared to returned fire.

"ZZAP !"

The trademark ruby beam of the lascannon flew toward the leading Raider. The flimsy vehicle stood no chance; it exploded and fell to the ground, burning furiously. The other two pulled back, blinded by smoke and fire from their fellow's hulk. All they could do was firing their Distintergrator cannons aimlessly through the smoke, hoping to hit something.

Illiara smiled. Everything happened just as she planned. But the Raider's burning remain attracted her attention. It was shaking, just like there was someone inside trying to get out. Impossible. How could they...

The hulk's shell was torn apart as something large, something horrible made their way out of it. Their hulking frames were covered in chains and hooks, two large cylinders protruded from their backs, pumping sicky green liquid into their bodies. They stood; their faces hidden behind black masks. The Warlock's heart was filled with terror.

"Grotesques !" She screamed "Take cover !"

* * *

The Angel moved gracefully. She danced among the monsters, took them down one by one, with skill and beauty no human warrior could hope to achieve. Even though he was looking through the scope of his rifle, Wilhelm could feel fear and awe . He could watch that all day. But he still had a duty. Reluctantly, he pulled his sight out of her, and pointed his gun at the two dragons which were disembarking demons, and fired several shots. While he could not stop the monsters, he was able to pinned down the demons behind their transports, prevent them from joining the chaotic melee on the street. Suddenly Wilhelm caught a glimpse of movement from the back of the transports. He didn't know what they gonna do, but he would not wait to see that.

"Angel of Light, Wilhelm here. Enemy's movement detected to the west of your position. Over."

"...buzz...buzz..."

Wilhelm turned, only to see his vox caster fell to the ground, impaled by dozens of tiny shards. He looked back, and saw one of the sky demons flew toward him, swinging its sinister-looking blades. The gun underneath its sky boards fired continuously, and Wilhelm was hit several time. His vision blurred as the toxin began to take effect. The demon dived low, prepared to deliver the killing blow.

This was gonna be rough.

* * *

Glen tapped on his personal vox, to no avail. He lost contact with Wilhelm several minute ago, and began to think of the worst since he hadn't found any error within his vox. But there was no time to hesitate, he had got the information he needed, the lives of hundred people depended on him. He led his squad, twenty-strong, cautiously toward the barren land outside the town, where he had decided to tackled them head on. Mist and Thule followed him suite.

"Angel...I see them." Mist said, pointed a finger at a group of figures, clad in black armours, dashed rapidly between covers. Mist sometimes made him uncomfortable, her unusual white hair, along with her deep blue eyes, created a feeling that she could looked right into your soul. But now...that feeling had gone, she trembled with fear. She was still a little girl, he should not let her go to war, he should not...

"Now what's the plan ?"

Someone's voice dragged him out of his thought " I have no idea what to do, this is the first time I have led troops in battle. But remember to take shelter, and then aim at the foes, in that order. You don't have to kill them right away, just keep them pinned down long enough for reinforcement to come. Do not let them get close, we won't last long in melee combat. Understand ? Good, now spred out."

The townsmen did what he said. With a simple gesture, his horse kneeled, obscured most of his body behind a rock. Glen took aim at the Dark Eldar. Lucky that they wore war masks, otherwise he could not bear himself to kill them.

"Fire !"

Dozen of las bolts flew toward the Dark Eldar, but they dodge it with little difficulty. They immediately returned fired, Glen's troops's hiding places were scratched by hundred of toxin shards. They continued to trade fire for several minutes, and some townsmen had been seriously wounded.

"What are you doing ?" the voice of Illiara over the vox made him startled "We are being overruned ! Wilhelm is downed ! Without him, there is nothing to stop the warriors. Help us !"

"I...can't !" Glen answered in the sound of gunfire "My force are engaging a squad of Kabalite Warriors, they had held us out for a long time !"

"I don't care ! Whatever you are doing, do quickly ! Or else they will destroyed us and every other thing in this town !"

"Okay okay ! Over and out !"

Glen tried not to panic. Another nearly impossible task was on his shoulder, he felt as if his heart had been put under a rock. Then he noticed something landing nearby. It wasn't thought which propelled him, but instead instinct threw his body into Mist's, bringing both of them to the ground before the disc-shaped grenade went off.

The world was eerily silent for a moment, though that faded to a persistent ringing in the ears. As much as Glen wanted to contemplate how long that ringing might last, they were still being shot at. Virtually being thrown off Mist didn't help the matters at all.

And something formed inside his mind. It might be an ascending moment of his brain, or just the after effect of being stunned, he didn't know. The important thing was it might work.

"Thule, come here !" he shouted.

"Yes, angel ?"

"I've got a plan. But it is fairly risky. If anything happen to me, you are in charge, okay ? Good, now listen carefully..."

Not until his horse had leaped over the rock where he had been hiding did he realize how insane and stupidly dangerous his plan was. He would be exposed to enemy's fire until he reached their cover, and even then there was no way he could defeat all of them in close combat. But he had to do it. His only hope was his force was able to reach the foe soon enough to relieve him.

His steed charged forward. He continuously pouring fire onto Dark Eldar position with reckless abandon, the carapace armour protect him from their retaliation. He pulled the bridle. The horse jumped, landed in the middle of the xeno pirates. They scattered. He reached for his chainsword, but felt something wet running down his hand. He looked down, and saw blood, _his _blood

His face began to feel as if a thousand pins were prickling it "Oh, God Emperor no..." he said, his voice breaking.

With that, his world went dark.

* * *

Sybarite Eraah observed the Mon'keigh lying on his feet. Fool. Did it think it could take on entire warrior squad by itself ? This creature needed to be re-educated.

His fellow warriors had completed subduing the Mon'keigh's horse. When its master fell, it fought back, desperately tried to protect its rider. The horse had been genetically altered to the point that it was almost twice bigger than normal; it had caused considerable trouble for his troops. But now, it laid on the ground, entangled inside a web, unable to move.

"Don't kill them. They will become Uzel's new toys; he will love to..."

His words were cut down as one of his warriors fell face first to the ground, a hole on his back.

And then several other las bolts were sent toward them, killed more warriors; Eraah suddenly understood the purpose of the Mon'keigh rider: he would distract the Dark Eldar long enough for his comrade to flank them. Bastard ! But he didn't have time to express his anger, they were taking fire from both side. Now he was able to see the Mon'keigh; they were approaching from both side, guns blazing. The creatures fanned out, totally surrounded his squad. His fellows warriors returned fire, but were caught by surprise and hopelessly outnumbered, they could only mount token resistance. And soon, the last fell out, leaving him to fend for himself. Eraah turned toward the Mon'keigh responsible for his downfall. Raising his Venom blade, slashed at the creature's neck. If he died today, he would bring someone with him.

"CLANG"

Eraah's weapon was stopped by a female Mon'keigh. Her features were interesting, even for the Dark Eldar: white hair, blue eyes. The Sybarite increased the his strength on the weapon; the human's simple iron sword was broken in half. He twisted his wrist, created a small cut on her shoulder. Although the wound was small, that was enough. His blade contained the most poisonous substances in the galaxy; if not treated quick enough, nearly always resulted in death. He smiled, and raised his blade again as the female human collapsed.

And then dozen of las bolts torn his body to pieces.

* * *

Wilhelm stood up, his head hurted. He didn't remember what he had done, but the sky demon now lying on his feet. He felt weak; the demon's toxin was very effective, although not enough to kill him. He looked down the street below: it was running red with blood. The demons had broken human's defense line. They were heavily outnumbered, but they fought with such ferocity that it usually took three men to kill one.

And he saw her.

The Angel, covered in blood, but otherwise unharmed, was trying to protect the wounded

And he saw _it_.

A large demon, wearing massive armour, with a set of horns on its helmet. It was destroying everything on its path with a massive two-handed sword. And it was heading toward her.

He had to act fast.

Wilhelm took the sky demon's sky board. Although it was malfunction, it could still be used. He jumped on it, and dived toward the demon, slammed his body into its. The demon startled, surprised by the action. It reached back to grab him, threw him into the ground. It certainly broke some of his ribs, but he didn't care. He felt no pain.

He turned to face his love. Her eyes widen.

The last thing he saw was the black sword of the demon.

* * *

The sound of the impact hit Illiara like a gunshot.

There was no thought. There was no sanity. Illiara was only dimly aware of her action, of what was going on. Rage had enveloped her. She send a hail of Destructor bolts toward the Incubus killing Wilhelm, threw him flying backward onto a wall.

And before the killer could regain his conciousness, the Warlock lunged forward, impaled him with her Witchblade, sliced his abdomen in half.

Her hand was blistering, her face felt hot. But she had other concerns. She moved toward Wilhelm's body, falling to her knees.

But an explosion drew her attention.

The remaining Raider went down in flame. Dark Eldar warriors died suddenly, with a hole in their bodies. Some surrendered, some didn't, and were killed instantly.

Glen's force had arrived.

But where was him ?

She ran toward them like a star, and her fear was confirmed.

"Noooo !"


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the long update. It was very hard to get my lazy ass up and working :p and there were many things happened to me last month, both good and bad. Good thing is I will go to college next month yoohoo. But the bad thing is that one of my friend (the one Illiara is based on) will go to Japan in October, and I want to spend time with her. That slowed me a lot.**

**Well, enough talking, enjoy the new chapter and thank you guys for your reviews.**

**-Awilla the hun: ahhh the horse. Don't worry about it, I have a plan for it. Its relationship with Glen will be mentioned in the next chapter. And about the peasants...they are the descendants of the human colonized this worlds in the Dark Age of Technology. Although most of the technology was lost, their talking habit remain the same.**

**-Dominic Trungove: Thule is not Davian Thule, unfortunately. If he were Davian Thule, The D Eldar would be butt raped loooong ago **

**-Messiah-Emperor: You will know what happened in the next chapter. I really want to tell you but that will spoil the story :p**

It was kind of funny that pain wasn't the first thing Glen noticed. Not that there wasn't a lot of it. Instead, it was the warmth. But his eyes didn't want to open. His body felt like lead. Lead and pain, but lead nonetheless. Nothing wanted to move. Nothing wanted to work.

But some images flashed through his mind. The Dark Eldar...his wound...he remembered. But now he was lying in a cot. His body was bruised, his right shoulder hurt like hell, although they had started healing nicely. But there was one more thing even more uncomfortable...he was in his undergarment.

"You are awake."

The voice made him jump, turning quickly to look at the source. Bad idea. He felt dizzy, seeing two Illiara sitting beside him. The Warlock smiled faintly; she was bruised, too, but otherwise unharmed.

"Urgh, how long have I been unconscious ?"

"Three days. It took me a lot of effort to save you. The toxin dissolved into your vein, and you lost too much blood. Lucky that I used to be a healer." She stopped for a moment before continued "But you're too reckless. Charging a Dark Eldar gunline ? Next time think carefully before doing anything stupid, or I will send you to your beloved Emperor myself, foolish Mon'keigh."

Even she was tired, Glen still felt amusement in her voice "The Emperor doesn't need a coward to serve him in the afterlife, and I am definitely one, so I won't die soon."He chuckled "And thank you. This is the second time an Eldar save my life. Although I know my race are xenophobic, I still don't understand why mankind's hatred for Eldar is so deep."

Illiara sighed "Many Eldar are ...not so friendly to human-to say the least. We have done horrible things to ensure our survival; we have killed, pillaged, crushed entire worlds under our feet, only to catch a glimse of hope; we are not much better than the Dark Eldar, just too arrogance to realize the truth." Seeing that Glen was preparing to protest, she quickly changed the subject "Beside, don't thank me. I only did a little. _She _was truly the one who save you." The Warlock said, and pointed to the cot next to his.

This was the first time Glen observed the person next to him. He suddenly felt a mountain inside his chest when he saw her face, and then her white hair.

It was Mist.

Her eyes closed tight. She was sweating heavily, her mouth babbled nonsense. The bandage on her shoulder was stained with blood.

All the strength seemed to leave Glen's body again when he realized how poor her condition was "Can...can you save her ?"

"She took a Venom blade hit for you. I have done anything possible to purge the poison; much of them was cleared, but there is still a small amount left. The rest is up to her."

"And...what happened to others ? How many ?"

"What ?"

"Don't pretend; You know what I am talking about. How many?"

"Eight...eighteen death, twenty five wounded. All the wounded were saved, but the dead...they haunted me. Most of them came from my force. They died because of my arrogance. Hundred years of experience is for what ? I...I...?

She was visibly shaken. He felt sorry for her. Although he had believed her when she said she valued the life of other races, a small part inside him still thought that she had showed off a little; but it turned out that she actually _cared _about the human she led. Glen would never forget the commander of Solaris campaign, who was so stupid, ruthless and coward to the point that he spent two full companies of conscripts just to slow down the Brass Scorpion attacking his mansion long enough to evacuate his treasure. Illiara was not like that. Although she was an alien, she was better than many human out there. Stayed with her, he felt secured, safe, and the warmth he had thought would be lost forever since he joined the Guards...

"Don't blame yourself" He said, trying to keep his voice as soft as possible "The dead...they chose their path; it's not your fault that those men died protecting what is important to them. This is war; even the Farseers of yours, with their prophetic power, could not hope to protect everyones. And you have done a good job, you saved most of the town population, you pushed the invaders back, destroyed them utterly. What could we ask for more ?"

The Warlock looked up, her eyes were red, as if she had been crying for a long time. And with a swift action, to his surprise, her arms curled around his neck, her hair whispered into his ears. She maybe was hundred of years old, but right now she was just a kid needing someone to rely on. And, in time, he returned the hug. After what seemed to be such a blissful eternity that didn't last for long enough, they eventually released each other, moving just inch away. Glen wished he didn't have to let her go, but inside him he knew the only good things could last forever were the God-Emperor and the Imperium of Man.

"Thank you, Glen" she said.

Glen felt his cheek darken to red. He turned away, tried not to look at the beautiful green eyes of the Eldar. But unfortunately, he stumbled upon another pair of eyes, equally beautiful, but those were blue, and they were right next to his arm. Mist had awaken; even though she was still weak, her confusion was clearly visible. She had probably seen what they had done, plus their position was...somewhat sensitive and easy to misunderstand. They looked at each other.

A long, awkward moment passed. No one moved. No one said a word.

"Oh no."

* * *

Waves after waves of cultists crashed at the shore of his defence. They threw themselves at the Dark Eldar's guns with reckless abandon, one fell, and ten more took his place. Laatheeym's small troop contingent began to lose ground, their number dwindled rapidly at the face of overwhelming enemy assault. He saw Uzel, the Haemunculus, tore apart by the frenzied cultists; he saw Ireko, his personal Lhamaean, fell lifeless, a round dark hole in her forehead; he saw his remaining warriors dropped like flies around him, their bodies mutilated and eaten. All had been lost; continued fighting was tantamount to suicide. Leaving his warriors to their death, Laatheeym and the remnant of his retinue rushed to their Venom. Then suddenly he realized that he had lost it; the most precious thing to him, the only thing that kept him sane in the madness of Commorragh. He must have it back.

With his keen senses it was not very difficult for him to located it. Throwing himself off the flying transport, Laatheeym rushed to the object, slaying everyone who got on his way. By the time he reached it, there were dozens of corpses littered the ground. He picked the thing up: a small, black statue of Asuryan that had been cut in half. To others this was just a piece of junk, but to Laatheeym, it was priceless: the only thing his mother left him before her escape from Commorragh, and according to her fellow slaves, if he found the white half of the statue, he could meet her again. He had sticked to this childish belief since he was still a kid; it had given him the strength to do terrible things to others, just to meet his loved ones again...

He looked up, his Venom still hovered in place, ready to pick him up. The Dracon gathered his strength, prepared for another jump. Then suddenly, several lightning bolts hit the skimmer, turned it into a burning wreckage.

And it fell right onto him.

The felling metal chunk had almost killed him. While Laatheeym was relatively unharmed, he was stunned by the blast. Immobile and surrounded, his only hope is that his ship's crew could come and rescue him in time.

_Meanwhile, in orbit..._

Shipmaster Kovart remained silence, despite multiple calls for help from the raiding party. Laatheeym's stood out among them, but to him this was only a small nuisance. He didn't intent to save them anyway.

"My lord...the Dracon requested an extraction immediately."

"Belay that order. We're moving out."

Kovart had been waiting for this moment for too long. Finally he was able to dispose Laatheeym and become the new Dracon. After what he had done to him...revenge was sweet.

"Kneel before your new Dracon !"

* * *

He couldn't believe it. He had been betrayed by his minions. Although he always knew this moment would come, but he didn't expected it to happen so soon.

The Dracon stood up. All his troops were dead. And the cultists were approaching him, their mouths full of Eldar blood. But they abruptly stopped. Only one of them moved toward him, but this one was different. He wore a cloak, his face hidden in the shadow of the hood; on his bare chest, there was a glowing eight-pointed star lying on a massive burn mark.

"A living Eldar ? Slaanesh will be pleased."

* * *

The Cult of Purity had been existing on this world for thousand of years, they devoted themselves solely for one purpose: to keep humanity pure and clean, destroy any taint that threaten to defile the Holy form of Man. During their long existence the Cult had gained considerable power and wealth; not even Lothar, the bloodthirsty tyrant of Brestia, or Varren, the ambitious king of Teyrin, dared to attack them. They just left them, and their resource-rich domain alone in hope that someday the Cult would destroy themselve in a power struggle between leaders.

But sadly, as Grand Master Ramilies knew, power struggles were impossible if all your men were selfless fanatics with no care for personal welfare.

Today the Grand Master had an unusual meeting. A Sorcerer wanted to hire his force to get rid of some pesky mutants that get on the way of his business. Although his Cult only hunted mutants, not Sorcerers, he still felt that someday they would become a major threat to humanity. And one of them now wanted to use the faithful like mercenary !

But here he was. Despite how distateful he felt about the sorcerer, he must still be polite. The sorcerer approached the throne in which Ramilies was sitting. While his Guard were heavily armed and armoured, he wore only a cloak, and on his bared chest sit a bizzare, glowing eight pointed star. Under the strange symbol, there was a massive burn mark. How could he survive such a terrible injury is beyond the Grand Master knowledge.

"Tell me your name, stranger."

The Sorcerer looked straight at him. Although the upper half of his face was totally hidden under the shadow of the hood, Ramilies could still saw his inhuman eyes. They chilled him.

"You can call me...Kaeron."


End file.
